SOVIET RADIO

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22657, 7 June 1948, Page 2

SOVIET RADIO

BROADCASTS TO JAPAN PROPAGANDA MEDIUM TOKIO, Powerful Russian broadcastings stations are bombarding Japanese. radio listeners with the Soviet version of Japanese events and the news of the world. The broadcasts from Moscow are relayed through stations at Khabarovsk or Komsomolsk. More and more Japahese daily are tuning in to the Kussaid broadcasts, which may be picked up by any ordinary radio. The Kremlin's strident views are voiced by both men and women who speak excellent colloquial Japanese. For the Japanese who prefer their news and comments in English, the Russians provide a half-hour summary m that language. , , The Russian version of the day events in Japan sometimes varies from the American view and tne facts, But the broadcasts contain a surprising amount of information which indicates Soviet communications with Japan are excellent. Every move by General MacArthur draws a Russian reaction. His view that America should help Japan ias been dubbed by Moscow as the “MacArthur Plan”. Russia says it is aimed at making Japan an American colony and "ledccing the Japanese workers o the status of industrial slaves of American capitalists ” The Moscow radio says that the Americans are trying to tie the Japanese to the -United States with dollar chains.” , The broadcasts occasionally indicate the Russians are nettled. One announcer recently berate 1 Japanese and Americans for stories coming from Japan about Nipponese war prisoners still held by the Russians. Some / 61,000 of them are still unaccounted for. The announcer quoted various Japanese prisoners of war who literally gurgled their “gratefulness to the people of the Soviet Union” for treatment accorded them during more than two years in prison camps. . The Russian broadcasters insist that Japan is in desperate straits, with militarists and reactionaries —helped by American capitalists—preparing to return to power. . What Japan needs, Moscow advises, is a “peoples’ democratic government” of the type advocated by the Japanese Communist leader, Sanzo Nozaka. The Russion announcers appeal to the Japanese women to overthrow the “militaristic reactionary system” which it says is in the saddle and has been since the occupation began. Japanese who study the Russian propaganda say that the Soviets are becoming more adept and are attracting more Japanese listeners. One Japanese suggested that the “Voice of America” programme counter the Russian broadcasts. He proposed a Japanese language broadcast from San Francisco direct to the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation for relay through Nipponese loud speakers. “Voice of America” broadcasts rei layed through Manila are often jammed in the Orient, presumably by the Russians, although Moscow has denied the jamming.